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Introductory Lecture II: an Overview of Space Storms Introductory Lecture II: An Overview of Space Storms Jan J. Sojka Center for Atmospheric and Space Science Utah State University Logan, Utah 28 July 2010 Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Overview • Space weather and its storms. • Super storms and the Sun. • Geospace response. • Heliospheric current sheet. • “Cosmic” ray. • Sun: solar storms. • Heliosphere Heliophysics: Sun + Solar Wind + Geospace + Planets + . Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Space Weather and Its Storms What we “see” Aurora “(Sun spots)” Magnetometer fluctuations Cosmic rays Time Scales Minutes, seconds, hours, days Years - solar cycle Maunder periods Space Scales High latitudes - OVAL Night time - all longitudes Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Early drawing of the aurora, depicted as candles in the sky; c. 1570 (Original print in Crawford Library, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.) Book 2, pp. 16. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Schematic diagram of an auroral substorm. View from above the North Pole, circles of constant geomagnetic latitude, Sun toward the top (Akasofu, 1964). Book 2, pp. 266 Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Schematic time history of geomagnetic field variation for two characteristic magnetic storms. Time range; several days. Vertical variation range: ~100–200 nT. SSC: storm sudden commencement. SO: storm onset. The top panel shows the storm development in response to a characteristic interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME), and the bottom panel that for the passage of a corotating intersection region (CIR). (Figure adapted from Tsurutani et al., 2006.) Book 2, pp. 264. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Polar airline routes used by United Airlines c. 2006 carrying 1500 flights per year. (Courtesy Hank Krakowski.) Book 2, pp. 28. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Given that United Airlines have 1500 polar crossing flights per year, Estimate how many passengers take polar flights each year? Note 1: you need to include an estimate for all airlines. Note 2: Estimation means no calculators needed, no computers,….. Average vertical temperature profile through Earth’s atmosphere. The general shape of the temperature profile is reasonably consistent, to the point where it can be used to define the four main neutral-atmosphere “layers”, from the troposphere to the thermosphere. Book 1, pp. 327. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Illustration of the large enhancement “bulge” in TEC at mid-latitudes during a geomagnetic storm, and showing the plume of plasma (storm-enhanced density, or SED) connecting the bulge to the high latitudes. (Courtesy of J. Foster.) Book 2, pp. 339. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Given that the atomic oxygen ion is the dominant ion in the F-region, that the F-region is a layer 40km thick at an altitude of 300km above the Earth, and the layer density is 1x1012 m-3 on the dayside and 2x1011 m-3 on the night side, Estimate the mass of the F-region? Note 1: You need to estimate the total number of O+ ions. Note 2: Estimation means no calculators needed, no computers,….. Note 3: Earth radius is 6371 km, mass of proton 1.6x10-27 kg Book 1, pp. 350. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Super Storms and the Sun • Carrington White Light Flare 1859, 1 September • Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) • High energy particles • Time scales Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Carrington’s sketch at 11:18 GMT on September 1, 1859, of the sunspot and the lettered (white) flaring regions. (From Carrington, 1859.) Book 2, pp. 26. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Example of GOES XRS measurements during a large (X1.5) solar flare. Book 2, pp. 347. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 A TRACE observation of the 171Å, or 17.1 nm, EUV emission from the X1.5 solar flare (See Table 5.1 for the flare magnitude scale) on 21 April 2002. (From Gallagher et al., 2002.) Book 2, pp. 86. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Given that light takes 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth, Estimate how far the Earth is from the Sun ? Note 1: Answer in km. Note 2: Estimation means no calculators needed, no computers,….. GEOSPACE Responses r r • Energy, Momentum, Mass, E, B, J • Magnetosphere – Bow shock – Magnetopause – Magnetosheath – Neutral sheet – Plasma sheet – Ring currents • Plasmasphere – Plasmapause – Radiation belts • Ionosphere – Exosphere – F-region, E-region, D-region • Thermosphere – Atmosphere, mesopause • Mesosphere – Stratopause • Stratosphere – • Troposphere – Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Schematic view of a magnetically closed magnetosphere, cut in the noon- midnight meridian plane. Open arrows, solar wind bulk flow; solid lines within magnetosphere, magnetic field lines (directions appropriate for Earth). Book 1, pp. 259. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Sources of plasma for the Earth’s magnetosphere (after Chappell, 1988). The shaded and dotted area illustrates the boundary layer through which solar wind plasma enters the magnetosphere. Book 1, pp. 369. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Given that the magnetosphere can be “viewed” as a cylinder that has a diameter of 10 Re and a length of 60 Re, and that its total proton content is approximately equal to the F-region O+ content, Estimate the average proton density in the magnetosphere? Note 1: Re is Earth radius. Note 2: Estimation means no calculators needed, no computers,….. Schematic representation of a magnetically open magnetosphere. The upper panel shows a cut in the noon-midnight meridian plane; the bold lines are magnetic field lines within the separatrix surfaces separating open lines from closed lines or open lines from interplanetary field lines. Book 1, pp.264. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Thermospheric density enhancements measured by accelerometers on the CHAMP satellite (altitude ~400 km) and GRACE satellite (altitude ~490 km) during the October 28, 2003 flare. (Sutton et al., 2006.) Book 2, pp. 355. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Statistical pattern of auroral energy input derived from TIROS/NPAA satellite data during a single transit of the polar region. (From Evans et al., 1988.) From Book 2, pp. 328. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Satellite observations of the erosion of the plasmasphere during a storm, from observations by the IMAGE satellite before and after the Halloween storm of October 28, 2003. (Courtesy of J. Goldstein.) The plasmaspheric tail, or plume, can be seen in the dusk sector during the storm event. Book 2, pp.341. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Schematic depiction of Earth’s electron radiation belts. (Courtesy of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studies.) Book 2, pp.294. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Heliospheric Current Sheet • Solar wind • Parker Spiral • Solar rotation • CME – Superstorm source Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 (Upper panel) The heliospheric current sheet, labeled “field reversal”, and its plasma sheet (Gosling et al., 1981) and (lower panel) the magnetospheric current sheet, here the “neutral sheet”, and its plasma sheet (Ness 1969.) Book 1, pp. 144. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 The heliospheric current sheet modeled for a 15° tilt of the solar magnetic equator. For a slow wind at 400 km/s, the figure is 25 AU across, extending to beyond Saturn’s orbit. Book 1, pp. 143. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 The heliospheric current sheet forms a warped, undulating structure extending from the top ridge of the helmet streamer belt (cf. Figs. 1.3 (top panel) and 8.1) that sweeps by the Earth as the Sun rotates once per 27 days (the synodic period). Book 1, pp.234. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Schematic comparison of shocks around CMEs, the heliosphere, and the magnetosphere. The figure shows some of the types of shocks and sheaths that exist in the heliosphere and their universal basic structures; (a) a CME, (b) the outer heliosphere, and (c) Earth’s magnetosphere. Book 2, pp. 195. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Given a fast CME has an Earthward velocity of 1000km/s, Estimate how long it takes to reach the Earth? Note 1: Answer in units of hours Note 2: Estimation means no calculators needed, no computers,….. Coronagraph observation of a CME that nicely shows the three-part structure: front, cavity, and (the bright core) filament (this is a file image taken from the LASCO database, presented in a reverse grey scale). Right: Correlation between inferred CME kinetic energy and peak GOES soft X-ray flux. (From Burkepile et al., 2004.) Book 2, pp. 136. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 “Cosmic” Rays Energization • Acceleration of charged particles occurs in the Sun, in the solar wind, and in geospace. • Van Alan Radiation Belts. • Shocks in solar wind (CME, CIRs). • Solar events generated solar energetic particles. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 The explosive release of energy, mass, momentum, and magnetic field from (top panel, SOHO-ESA and NASA) the solar corona. Book 1, pp. 37. Heliophysics Summer School Year IV 28 July - 4 August 2010 Representative profiles of 20 MeV proton events for different positions of the observatory with respect to a shock.
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